Interview with Duncan (Dutch Uncles)

Hello and thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Firstly could you please introduce yourself? Who are you and where are you at the moment?

My name is Duncan and I am the singer of Dutch Uncles. I am at home in bed.

How is it going? You are in the studio to work on your second album, aren't you?

We've begun recording sessions for a new album. At the moment we're recording songs that we've been playing over the last 12 months so our first few weeks have been about catching up with songs, but there are some proggy gems yet to be put down on tape we're quite excited about.

You recorded your debut album in Hamburg, in Rothenburgsort and now the second album in Manchester. How much does the different cities influence the music? What would happen if you use a studio in Jamaica?

Recording in Hamburg was the closest thing we've had to a holiday since starting the band. The fact we didn't have to record around day jobs or make time for friends was a big advantage that made us quite diluded about what stage we were at. Recording in Manchester doesn't feel like much of a change to the old days of demos, but then again we have vibraphones and conga drums and loads of crazy shit to play with, so its a much richer sound than we first thought. We're saving Jamaica for our blowout 5th album in true Happy Mondays style.

How important is Manchester for you, living and working in Manchester, with all the music history?  Or are you fed up with this Manchester questions?

Its important because its where we started, and its important to younger people who've just discovered what Manchester has produced. But with that said, everyone around us seems more excited about what's going on in Manc than we are. The questions and expectations become tiresome... and especially the lazy reviews.

Steve Hanley, who played nearly 20 years in The Fall, once said he started to make music as a teenager because the weather in Manchester was so awful, it was always raining, so he couldn't hang out outdoors with his mates, so they formed a band. What was your reason to start with music?

We kept getting drunk after college and playing air guitar and took it as a sign.

I don't think The Fall are an influence for the Dutch Uncles. Who are your musical heroes?

The Strokes and The Futureheads were the first bands for us. Then we watched "Stop Making Sense" by Talking Heads and started again with what it means to be a band.

Do you know any German bands you like?

We met 1000 Robota when we were recording in Hamburg and they had just recorded a cover of Palais Schaumburg's "Wir bauen eine neue Stadt" which is still a favourite club banger of ours.

How was your time in Hamburg? Was it only work or could you go out clubbing?

Our good friend and photographer Nina Kolle took us around St.Pauli a few times and its our first calling point the next time we come back to Germany. Meine Kleine Raum Disko and Uebel und Gefährlich are favourites.

During your time in Hamburg could you try some of the local specialities? Did you ever try a Franzbrötchen (a kind of cake, made of puff pastry with cinnamon, full of fat and sugar, very delicious)

The bakeries always looked liked an intimidating experience so we just got regular bread so we didn't have to hear ourselves fail at speaking German.

Toast On Fire is a morning radio show so we are all very much interested in breakfast. What is a perfect breakfast for you?

Scrambled Eggs and Croissants... and a cappuccino. Jawoll!

You played plenty of times in Germany, how do the fans and audiences differ between the UK and Germany?

Germany gives a band from Manchester a sense of mystery. They have no idea how little romance there is about where we come from so we play in Germany with a new meaning for ourselves, this makes us very depressed to return to the UK as you can imagine. UK's all good tho!

Any plans for coming back to Hamburg for a gig or a Germany tour?

We talk about doing that all the time but right now all of our money is spent on recording so it's still a pipe dream. When we have the new album is ready I think we'll make a serious attempt to come back over.

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